O’Bryan plays with state’s best

Basehor-Linwood golfer Megan O'Bryan shot 106 and placed in the top half of the field at the Class 4A girls golf tournament in Buhler, Kan last week.The senior golfer finished in 40th place with a round that included a few bogeys, a few pars and some tough shots on one of central-Kansas' newest showcase golf courses, Cottonwood Hills in Reno County.O'Bryan started the tournament a little rocky on the first hole. She shot an eight, but bounced back to par the second hole. Following the par, she struggled on the next couple holes.The four-hole sequence continued throughout the tournament. O'Bryan had played in the state tournament last year and handled the prominence of state well."She is very level headed as it is, I wasn't worried about her being too nervous," coach Ryan Higgins said. "She handled it like it was another tournament and had fun at the same time. I couldn't have asked for anything better out of her."The golf course was designed by PGA golfer Nick Faldo and played tougher than most that the team plays on."It was tough and very hilly," Higgins said. "There were lots of high weeds and grass."A master-planned community is planned around the golf course, but currently the clubhouse is a couple of trailers hooked together.When O'Bryan's group, which included her mom, coach Higgins and his wife showed up to play a practice round on Sunday, they found a beautiful course and no clubhouse.The restroom was shut down because the septic tank was full."I am sure that is just because it was new," Higgins said. "They are probably just waiting to build the clubhouse until everything is done."The Sunday practice round was rained out, which made it tougher to play the course on Monday."Yeah, there were several holes nice to have played before," Higgins said. "There were quite a few blind shots and it would have been nice to know where they were."The course was shortened from what it normally is played at, but Higgins said it played tough.The state tournament concluded Basehor-Linwood's golf season. Higgins said he was pleased with the play of O'Bryan and Lindsey Fenton."Meghan and Lindsey were the two that have played since we started the program a few years ago," Higgins said. "They have been responsible for quite a few medals the last few years. We will have to have someone replace them. Whenever you lose four seniors going to take a hit, but it also opens the door to other opportunity to other golfers."